Hmm.. I guess I didn't think about this.. I'll add some as we go along...

David Huff v Brandon McCarthy is the pitching matchup tonight. McCarthy has had the Indians number throughout his career. David Huff is coming off his worst outing of the year in a short outing against the Tigers 9 days ago. The Indians have another "injury" to deal with tonight.. Jason Donald has a finger contusion that will keep him out of the lineup. Cord Phelps will be taking his spot at 2B.

Trevor Cahill is coming off one of his better outings of the year, a two run six inning performance against the Yankees IN Yankee Stadium. He left the game after six innings with his team losing. His teammates (principally Coco Crisp with a career game) scored often and late to eke out a 6-4 win in the ten inning game. The entire season for Cahill has been a bit of an enigma. He hasn't had any stretches where he's been dominating. In most of his starts, he has been unable to command the baseball down in the zone. When Cahill isn't in command of his location, i.e. every time he got a pitch up it, it gets belted. The Indians needs to be prepared to work the count against this RH'er if they want to take the second game of the series. JeanMar Gomez's only appearance against the A's this season occurred on 'Cinco De Mayo' in Oakland where he pitched into the 6th inning, surrendering six hits, two walks and a single earned run. He did not get a decision in this well pitched outing as it took 12 innings to decide the outcome. With the win, the Tribe tied the best 30-game start in the history of the 111-year-old franchise. while tonight's contest doesn't portend to be of epic proportions w/r to history being made, another solid outing by the pitching staff will be needed for the Indians to keep pace with both the Tigers as well as the CWSox...

It should be a beautiful night for a ball game..

Last edited by GeronimoSon on Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

Both David Huff and Brandon McCarthy have been lights out through the first four innings. Huff, other than giving up a scary foul ball, has been very solid. McCarthy has been able to keep the ball down in the zone all night. He elevates the fastball to get the Indians' hitters to chase when he has two strikes..

Let's try it this way.. the initial series posting will be edited as well as each game added as we go along.. (okay, I know it's a stretch after forgetting to post a regular series thread before the series began...)

Trevor Cahill is coming off one of his better outings of the year, a two run six inning performance against the Yankees IN Yankee Stadium. He left the game after six innings with his team losing. His teammates (principally Coco Crisp with a career game) scored often and late to eke out a 6-4 win in the ten inning game. The entire season for Cahill has been a bit of an enigma. He hasn't had any stretches where he's been dominating. In most of his starts, he has been unable to command the baseball down in the zone. When Cahill isn't in command of his location, i.e. every time he got a pitch up it, it gets belted. The Indians needs to be prepared to work the count against this RH'er if they want to take the second game of the series. JeanMar Gomez's only appearance against the A's this season occurred on 'Cinco De Mayo' in Oakland where he pitched into the 6th inning, surrendering six hits, two walks and a single earned run. He did not get a decision in this well pitched outing as it took 12 innings to decide the outcome. With the win, the Tribe tied the best 30-game start in the history of the 111-year-old franchise. while tonight's contest doesn't portend to be of epic proportions w/r to history being made, another solid outing by the pitching staff will be needed for the Indians to keep pace with both the Tigers as well as the CWSox...

David Huff's outing has earned a backhanded compliment by the ABJ's Sheldon Ocker.. With the results of his six outings (five starts), the ABJ has determined that Huff, with a couple more dominating outings, will be considered for a rotation spot in 2012.

WELL... HOW ABOUT THAT !!

David Huff's only real troubles in this outing was a pair of doubles, one a bloop by Jemile Weeks that landed just inside the right field line in the third innings and a line shot by Hideki Matsui with two outs in the sixth. Huff immediately issued an intention walk to Josh Willingham before retiring Brandon Allen with a ground ball that Matt LaPorta played well to the backhand side, going to the bag, himself.

The only other batted balls that had a chance to create problems was a Cliff Pennington liner to RF that Kosuke Fukudome made a good running catch at the waist for the third out in the second inning and a long foul ball by Josh Willingham followed by a devastating curve ball at the knees on the outside corner, called strike three on Josh Willingham. Perhaps the best curve ball Huff threw all night.

Huff is now 2-2 with an ERA of 2.08 for the season. Yes.. there's a pretty good chance David Huff will get a chance to keep his spot in the rotation.. this year and on into next year. Huff is primarily a fly ball pitcher. He's going to have a few days when the fly balls go out of the yard..it's part of the life of a pitcher.

If Huff can continue to mix his pitches, especially that curve ball, with that kind of command.. he can become an incredibly effective SP in the ML's... Nice to see..

Need a big game from Gomez tonight. With Tomlin down, and Carrasco sounding like he could be done for the year, great opportunity for Gomez to grab the open spot and run with it (McAllister sure didn't look up to it).

Any official word on the corresponding roster move? I was assuming it would be Head, but that was before word of Choo missing 2 weeks hit. Still think Head is the more likely choice (or Hermann) though....

GeronimoSon wrote:Let's try it this way.. the initial series posting will be edited as well as each game added as we go along.. (okay, I know it's a stretch after forgetting to post a regular series thread before the series began...)

I haven't been in front of the computer much in the past 48 hours and won't be over Labor Day weekend either, so I won't be able to start the threads for either of the next couple series.

GeronimoSon wrote:Let's try it this way.. the initial series posting will be edited as well as each game added as we go along.. (okay, I know it's a stretch after forgetting to post a regular series thread before the series began...)

I haven't been in front of the computer much in the past 48 hours and won't be over Labor Day weekend either, so I won't be able to start the threads for either of the next couple series.

I'll do my best to get a full Series Thread in place for the next couple of seriesesesesesesesesess....

Damn..both the Tigers and CWSox came back to get W's in last night's games.. The AL Central is still controlled by the Tigers, but, they just don't have the look of a Division Champion team..

-JeanMar Gomez: Can't say enough about how well JeanMar was pitching last night.. He was on top of the ball, throwing downhill and hitting his spots. He was particularly effective against lefties. That two seam fastball that started off the inside corner and moved back over the inside part of the plate made several of the A's hitters spectators.. He was really locking them out..

-Fukudome: Nice run of games by Fukudome.. He has been absolutely on fire. He's hitting the ball to all parts of the park. Unlike so many other players, Fukudome gets into the box and STAYS there.. he doesn't adjust and readjust his gloves.. he taps the plate three times and relaxes until the pitcher goes into his motion.

-Jim Thome has one helluva batting eye.. Getting his 1000th walk with Chief Wahoo on his sleeve is testament to his patience and discipline at the plate.. Perhaps some of that will rub off on some of the other Indians hitters.

-Carlos Santana with his second blast in as many nights.. and he played a decent game at 1B..

-Jason Donald needs to continue to play more..

-Jack Hannahan is now doing it with both the glove and the bat.. I certainly hope Hanny's homer doesn't change his approach going forward. When he's going to all fields, he has a short to the ball, long through the hitting zone swing.

Onward to game three of this series.. Rich Harden is going to get his K's, but, he'll also surrender some walks. The Indians hitters need to let him walk them.. A repeat of Ubaldo's last outing would be nice...

After the trip-deuces last night (two run double, two-two run homers), the Indians bats appear to be at least "stirring" some. It will be UBALDO !! on the hill with the pill for tonight's tilt. Ubaldo Jimenez hasn't been with the Indians for a long time, but during that stay, his home splits are more than favorable: a 2-0 record with a miniscule 0.60 ERA. A repeat of his last outing where he was in command and control of his fastball would be very nice to see. Rich Harden has spent most of season on the DL. He recently joined the A's at the outset of July and has made ten starts during the 2011 season. Another "normal" year for Harden.. great talent.. can't stay on the field. Harden was the starting pitcher for the A's in the 22-9 HISTORIC PASTING by the Yankees in his last start. While Harden was only responsible for 6 of the runs scored, he was battered around for ten hits and left the game early in the fifth inning. Prior to that start, Harden had gone 2-0, with 23K's and 11 BB's (none intentional) over three starts (two against the Jays, one against the Rangers) with a 2.50 ERA & 18 IP. So, which Harden will the Indians see?. .The in control Dr. Jekyl?.. or the lunatic Mr. Hyde?..

The Indians are now 5-4 on this 11-game home stand. A win tonight will ensure a higher than break even result before heading out to KC for a short three game series over the weekend. After that, it's back to the friendly confines (with apologies to the Wrigley Field Folks) of Progressive Field to have a showdown with the Tigers.. Perhaps we'll have both Grady and Choo back in the lineup by then?.. ah.. you can only dream...

Nice start to the matinees today..the Twins jumped all over Peavy for six runs in the first inning and lead 6-0.. and Eric Hosmer is off to a career day against the Motor City Kitties.. and lead 4-2.. NOW LET'S SEE THESE TWO POS TEAMS HOLD ONTO A LEAD !!...

The Tigers have come back to tie the game in the 8th inning.. 4-4 on a VMart RBI double... with two down.. Wilson Betemit then scores Brennan Boesch who was pinch running for VMart.. so the Tigers now lead, 5-4.. and Valverde is in the game for another save opportunity...which he did.. the royals in the 9th: Francoeur fouls out to 1B, Moustakas strikes out.. and Getz singles & steals second and Brayan Pena walks.. and Escobar goes down for the last out.. The Royals aren't helping much...

Last edited by GeronimoSon on Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

GeronimoSon wrote:-Fukudome: Nice run of games by Fukudome.. He has been absolutely on fire. He's hitting the ball to all parts of the park. Unlike so many other players, Fukudome gets into the box and STAYS there.. he doesn't adjust and readjust his gloves.. he taps the plate three times and relaxes until the pitcher goes into his motion.

Interesting note on Kosuke. He has been playing the game a long time and his veteran presence could of had a Thome-like impact, but the language barrier has probably prevented players the privilege of being able to pick his brain. O well, Ill take the XBH with runners in scoring position as a consolation

The Twins took a four run lead into the 8th inning and tried to give it up.. but were only able to give up three runs, winning the game after Alex "MY CONTRACT IS SO BAD, ADAM DUNN's LOOKS DECENT" Rios strikes out to end the game. So, the Indians go into tonight's contest in a virtual tie with the CWSox for 2nd in the AL Central..

Ubaldo just confounds me. He goes from no command - to unhitable in an instant. That's very unusual for a veteran pitcher. He also seems very easy going. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I like an ace pitcher that fights you at every at bat like Pedro Marinez.

I don't know what Ubaldo's WAR rating is - but I bet it's not very impressive.

GhostofTedCox wrote:I don't know what Ubaldo's WAR rating is - but I bet it's not very impressive.

Only 2.8 this year. Over the previous 3 though it was 16.3 (combined)...which was nearly identical to Felix Hernandez (16.7).

Ubaldo is having a down year. ERA doesn't come close to matching his FIP or xFIP.....reminds me a bit of Masterson last year. Hopefully he has a similar rebound (and has a similar finish to the season this year).

Pork Chop Pough wrote:Wow, career night for Hannahan. If they had to play a 16 inning game, at least they timed it right... should be a fresh arm or two up within the next 12 hours thanks to the expanded rosters.

Last week the Indians played over 26.5 innings in about 27 hours. Now they're looking at playing at least 24+ innings within about 20 hours.

Great night by Hanny indeed....but what a night by Frank the Tank Hermann! 4 perfect innings!!?!?! wow!

Holy mac-uh-nolie.. the Son's of Geronimo never gave up.. It took tremendous heart to gut this game out.. and a poor call by home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman. (IDK.. it sure looked like Cord was tagged by Suzuki after jumping up to grab DeJesus's throw before Cord's hand touched the plate.. it was very close, regardless)..

-Hannahan the Man !. Two homers and the game winning RBI single in seven at bats.. He's taken his relatively poor July and turned it into an incredibly productive August. His glove never seems to waiver.

-Supe'Herrmann: What can you say about a reliever that's accustomed to going one inning.. who gives you four perfect innings?. You say.. WOW! and, well, just part of the overall great night by the bullpen mafia: 10 IP / 6 hits / 3 BB /9 K's and no runs..

-Jason Donald needs to continue to play more..

-Zeke Carrera's attempted drag bunt against Blevins was an excellent idea, poorly executed. When Zeke has a little more control of the bat while bunting, he'll put that one to the left of the pitcher and use his speed to get on base. Otherwise, Zeke's running catch to deep center was a game saver...

-19 K's by Indians batters.. one too many, as Lou Marson K'd with a runner on third and less than two outs in the 15th inning. Marson MUST make contact there. .

-Indians pitchers were able to pile up 15 k's on the evening..

Both the Indians and the A's ran out of pitchers by the end of the game. Today's game, a noon start, should see two tired and beaten up clubs. It's September baseball..and the games matter!! The Indians may have a soft tissue injury 'pop up' in order to allow one of Nick Hagadone or Josh Judy to return to the Indians by today's game. The Indians may also DFA Luis Valbuena to make room for Zach Putnam, who has been more than ready to make a statement at the ML level. Chen Chang Lee could also be considered or the Indians may go even deeper into the minors and bring up Cory Burns. Burns would be a real stretch as both Putnam and Lee are considered much closer to being ML-ready.

GeronimoSon wrote:Both the Indians and the A's ran out of pitchers by the end of the game. Today's game, a noon start, should see two tired and beaten up clubs. It's September baseball..and the games matter!! The Indians may have a soft tissue injury 'pop up' in order to allow one of Nick Hagadone or Josh Judy to return to the Indians by today's game. The Indians may also DFA Luis Valbuena to make room for Zach Putnam, who has been more than ready to make a statement at the ML level. Chen Chang Lee could also be considered or the Indians may go even deeper into the minors and bring up Cory Burns. Burns would be a real stretch as both Putnam and Lee are considered much closer to being ML-ready.

Hafner to the 60 is also a possibility. But Valbuena DFA could also happen as Manny may want a 3rd C for emergency purposes.

GeronimoSon wrote:Both the Indians and the A's ran out of pitchers by the end of the game. Today's game, a noon start, should see two tired and beaten up clubs. It's September baseball..and the games matter!! The Indians may have a soft tissue injury 'pop up' in order to allow one of Nick Hagadone or Josh Judy to return to the Indians by today's game. The Indians may also DFA Luis Valbuena to make room for Zach Putnam, who has been more than ready to make a statement at the ML level. Chen Chang Lee could also be considered or the Indians may go even deeper into the minors and bring up Cory Burns. Burns would be a real stretch as both Putnam and Lee are considered much closer to being ML-ready.

Hafner to the 60 is also a possibility. But Valbuena DFA could also happen as Manny may want a 3rd C for emergency purposes.

I'll believe it when I see it, but Tom Hamilton & Mike Hegan were saying during last night's broadcast that Hafner thinks he'll be back in the lineup in 2 weeks. Even if that's overly optimistic though, I think it means that there's no way they'll transfer him to the 60-day DL.

Coming off a thrilling/nail biting win, the Indians and A's match up for the last time this year in a no TV business man's special at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Gio Gonzalez, after a very good start to the year has become almost as erratic as Fausto. For the month of August, Gio made five starts, going 31 IP while surrendering 19 earned runs, 16 BB's while maintaining a solid 1K per IP (31 K's). His 5.52 ERA during this time is mediocre to poor. Gonzalez is a typical lefty.. lots of garbage and movement. He doesn't overpower hitters.. he gets them "in between". Look for the right handed lineup by Manny today. Fausto had a relatively poor outing on August 27, but this doesn't change the fact that he is the antithesis of Gio for August. During Fausto's five starts during the month of August, he has 34 IP while surrendering 12 earned runs, 8 BB's, 22 K's while maintaining a very respectable 3.17 ERA. The Indians are looking for Fausto to go deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep into today's game, if for no other reason than to give the Bullpen Mafia some much needed rest.

The Indians are now 6-4 on this 11-game home stand.. and it should be a beautiful afternoon for a ball game....

Hafner coming back in ten days or so would be a big boost to the Indians. Going down the stretch, the Indians will be thrilled to have a pair of lefty mashers, one to start, one to pinch hit, and they're interchangeable, to power their way to the AL Central title..

GeronimoSon wrote:Both the Indians and the A's ran out of pitchers by the end of the game. Today's game, a noon start, should see two tired and beaten up clubs. It's September baseball..and the games matter!! The Indians may have a soft tissue injury 'pop up' in order to allow one of Nick Hagadone or Josh Judy to return to the Indians by today's game. The Indians may also DFA Luis Valbuena to make room for Zach Putnam, who has been more than ready to make a statement at the ML level. Chen Chang Lee could also be considered or the Indians may go even deeper into the minors and bring up Cory Burns. Burns would be a real stretch as both Putnam and Lee are considered much closer to being ML-ready.

Hafner to the 60 is also a possibility. But Valbuena DFA could also happen as Manny may want a 3rd C for emergency purposes.

Valbuena has more value to this club IMO than a 3rd catcher right now. He's no burner, but would be our best PR option.

Haven't been impressed with Putnam. Has been solid, but nothing that screams callup. Judy, Hagadone, and even Kluber are enough for the pen IMO.

Carrasco was asked a couple days ago if he felt confident he'd be back this season....and his answer was "no". He may be a 60-day DL option.

What an Inning...should be out of it with 0 runs if Carmona had a brain, Head makes the catch and Donald throws to 1st...instead 1 run is in and bases loaded with 0 outs...they do this all the time with me...just when I start believing again a little bit, they shit their pants

Okay.. so the Indians came out and layed an egg today.. and they'll lose ground to the Tigers who have gone ahead of the Royals by two runs late in the game.. This game was just another typical Gio Gonzalez effort against the Indians in Cleveland. The Indians finish the 11 game home stand 6-5. While not great.. not horrible either.. The CWSox and Tigers begin a three game series over the weekend. The Indians need to have both teams lose...

was at the game, right by head's drop. The fans turned on him quickly, not only did he drop the ball but he then kicked it and looked lost. He the rest of the game was beating himself up. he looked beyond awful at the plate, not sure if he is trying to hard, but right now I have no clue how he could have hit in AAA, as he looks like a lost little leaguer today. Looked like a guy who should be taken off the 40, never came close to getting a hit, swung at everything it was ugly. He made Valbuena look good

GeronimoSon wrote:The Indians finish the 11 game home stand 6-5. While not great.. not horrible either..

At home against 3 of the worst teams in baseball, 6-5 is pretty awful... while trailing the Tigers by several games with less than a month remaining in the season, it's failure. There's no way to sugarcoat that. They needed to make up ground during the easiest stretch of the remaining schedule, and instead they're a game further back now than when they came home from Detroit.

We got the good and the bad of Hagadone in his debut. Kluber got a major league paycheck and a story to tell his grandkids some day... unfortunately for him, grandkids can now easily fact-check with the internet. So has everyone who wanted Jerad Head in Cleveland had their fill? He's a swinging bunt away from being 0-fer-15 and shown his defensive shortcomings. Maybe keep this in mind when next year's version of Jordan Brown/Jared Goedert/Jerad Head comes along in Columbus.

GeronimoSon wrote:The Indians finish the 11 game home stand 6-5. While not great.. not horrible either..

At home against 3 of the worst teams in baseball, 6-5 is pretty awful... while trailing the Tigers by several games with less than a month remaining in the season, it's failure. There's no way to sugarcoat that. They needed to make up ground during the easiest stretch of the remaining schedule, and instead they're a game further back now than when they came home from Detroit.

We got the good and the bad of Hagadone in his debut. Kluber got a major league paycheck and a story to tell his grandkids some day... unfortunately for him, grandkids can now easily fact-check with the internet. So has everyone who wanted Jerad Head in Cleveland had their fill? He's a swinging bunt away from being 0-fer-15 and shown his defensive shortcomings. Maybe keep this in mind when next year's version of Jordan Brown/Jared Goedert/Jerad Head comes along in Columbus.

Given the fact he wasnt expect to succeed and managed to hang in there and finally get a shot as an UDFA is pretty flippin cool. What if he ends up 5-5 for with a couple HR's in his next game? Hes the next who - blah blah blah... He is getting (blowing) his chance because of a massively depleted outfield and his RH'edness.... Not due his "prospect status", so who cares. We need a bat and this scratch it doesnt look like a winner..If they want to scratch another I am all for it...As for Jared Goedert, which one should I look at? The one from last year or should I wait until next year? Well if I am looking at this years, (I am) he has done a fine job in limited time at the plate and is hitting the daylights out of the baseball right now. Still think he should/will get some playing time, wonder how he would have done had he played a full season. I know he can't play D at 3rd regularly, but could he play 1B at the ML level? OF a future option? Where we are now, might as well throw the in-house guys at the problem, RH SLG/Hitting - and see if we can get one (or 2!!) to stick for the rest of the year.